Un-checked: Sharika Allison

Sharika Allison became an employee with the Beaumont school district in 2008 on the exact same day as her boss, Devin McCraney, and currently holds the title of BISD comptroller. What experi­ence she has to hold such a position is unclear, but a Legislative Budget Board review of the finance office maintains that Allison was given clearance to sensitive areas such as the cash holding vault and check printing equipment, although she did not need such clearance.

According to the LBB report, Allison is in charge of fixed assets, student activities funds, and cash management. Allison is also in charge of creating ledger codes for disbursement and keeping track of bond sales. The report says that the ledger accounts under the control of Allison and the fund spread­sheets are not in sync, and funds diverted through her office could not be reconciled even after multi­ple attempts to balance the numbers were made. LBB investigators noted that due to the lack of con­trols on reconciliation of accounts, the district “can­not be certain that its cash is safeguarded or that its accounting records are accurate.”

Furthermore, according to the LBB review team, Allison’s cash management and student activity fund monitoring skills were leaving the district open to potential downfall.

“Control weaknesses in this area,” the report con­cludes, “create a risk that campus and stu­dent activity funds might be misappropri­ated or stolen before the deposit reaches the bank account.”

Allison is bring­ing home in excess of $62,000 a year from her employment with BISD, but she is also connected to the district as the treasurer of BAABSE, the Beaumont Area Alliance of Black School Educators.

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